Document Imaging Blog

Gartner Calls MFP Manufacturers' Messaging "Greenwash"

There is no question that there's been a resurgence of interest in the paperless office. Much of this new found interest has been a result of increased desire for organizations to present a better face when it comes to sustainability, reducing greenhouse gases and other environmentally sound practices.

It's to be expected that MFP technology providers would want to join the bandwagon and put on a green face, too, even if their business models depend on customers printing more pages. What I've found surprising is that the industry analyst firm Gartner addressed this topic so candidly in a research note late last week. Gartner analysts Don Dixon and Pete Basiliere said MFP technology providers' public messaging around sustainability is "greenwash," that is, more marketing than actual programs and process changes to reduce paper in enterprises.

If you have a Gartner subscription, I recommend that you read the Gartner research report (#G00166785) called Cost Optimization is Key to Print Management in the Recession.

AIIM 2009 - What wiil it bring?

AIIM kicks off next Tuesday in Philadelphia with some new branding (Info360) and a lot of anticipation around what the show will bring. Over the last couple of years, the show has been more of a gathering place for vendors, resellers and consultants, mixed with a spattering of end user customers. Will the change in venue from Boston to Philadelphia change that? How will the economy effect numbers? And what will the buzz be about?

One topic sure to be on the minds of attendees is SharePoint. The story has moved from "What is it?" to "How do I use it?" to "What has been your experience with it?" over the past couple of years, but without a doubt it will be a prominent part of many vendor's stories -- including us. We'll be presenting on SharePoint and Document Imaging in the Canon and Microsoft theaters:

• Canon Booth - Tuesday (noon); Wednesday (3:00) and Thursday (10:30)

• Microsoft Booth - Tuesday (11:30) and Wednesday (3:30)

AIIM is still the big event in the ECM realm and is always an important place to be seen and to continue to build the ecosystem. We'll be continuing on our strategy for the show for the past few years and supporting our ecosystem partners in their booths. Join us and our partners at:

• Canon (Booth #1701)

• Equitrac (Booth #2500)

• I.R.I.S. (Booth #605)

• Konica Minolta (Booth #1425)

• Microsoft (Booth #900/MP21)

• Rochester Software Associates (Booth #2248)

We look forward to seeing you at AIIM and I'll be sure to post a couple of times from the show. What are your expectations for this years show? Leave a comment!

Improving paper-intensive business processes

We’ve just completed a new paper on improving paper-intensive business processes. Among the topics covered is how integrating document imaging with the systems underlying BPM, and performing document scanning at the front-end of business processes, organizations can develop a bridge between the paper work and the electronic work that improved productivity and enables continuous improvement of business processes.

 

Enterprise software applications that drive document-centric workflows — such as enterprise content management (ECM) applications, enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing, and human resources applications — are all strong candidates for most organizations seeking to automate BPM and reduce enterprise dependency on paper- based processes. While BPM tools model, monitor, analyze,
and drive business processes, it is the business applications that both execute the steps within the processes, and that contain and manage the content and data. Cross-platform document imaging solutions provide the necessary integration points to include paper-based information into the electronic workflows managed by BPM suites.

 

   

 

 

Additionally, the paper includes an overview of some of the typical business problems caused by paper-based processes and discovery questions that can be used to identify these problems. Clearly, identifying and dealing with paper is only one step in process improvement. But without addressing paper-based processes, any BPM initiative will leave a large process improvement opportunity on the table.